This book is dedicated to the memory of the 431 men from the Forty-ninth Volunteer Infantry Regiment of Georgia who gave their life in the service of the Confederate States of America. Many of these men were my close relatives, and indeed, my own Great Great Grandfather was among those who died from disease while in the service.

The Forty-ninth served bravely and indeed, valiantly from its creation in the spring of 1862, to the very end of the war at Appomattox in 1865.

The Forty-ninth suffered even more casualties from disease than from yankee bullets. We now know that many of these maladies were preventable. I chose the name of this book, Don't Drink the Water, as a kind of memorial to the fact that war, and the perils thereof come from many directions.

The Forty-ninth Infantry Regiment of Georgia Volunteers was organized under a call for volunteers, by Governor Joseph E. Brown, on 4 MAR 1862, and was composed of the following companies:

Company A, Wilkinson County - Invincibles
Company B, Telfair County - Telfair Volunteers
Company C, Washington County - Washington Guards
Company D, Taliaferro County - Taliaferro Volunteers
Company E, Wilcox County - States Rights Guards
Company F, Irwin County Volunteers - Irwin Volunteers
Company G, Laurens County - Laurens Volunteers
Company H, Washington County - Cold Steel Guards
Company I, Hancock County - Pierce Guards
Company K, Pulaski County - Pulaski Greys